So many possibilities

Tom OrrRidge Lines

Published: Sunday, December 16, 2012 at 4:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Friday, December 14, 2012 at 3:11 p.m.

Stephen Sondheim, the gifted Broadway musician/lyricist, created the musical "Sunday in the Park With George" based on the book by James Lapine. The musical was inspired by the painting "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" by George Seurat.

The musical play is developed around Seurat's efforts to create his masterwork and the people who are in that picture.

What I find so compelling is the concept for the play itself. One line, in particular, stands out: "White … a blank page or canvas … so many possibilities."

Seurat was born on Dec. 2, 1859, and died in March 1891. He is known for developing a technique in painting known as pointillism.

The pointillist (to the best of my understanding) uses small dots of pure color that are applied in "patterns to form an image."

History has been called an enormous jigsaw puzzle with a lot of missing parts. Historians are judged by their use of available evidence. In the re-creation of history, the small details of life, much the same as Seurat's dots, are revealed and, although mostly unrelated, are embraced in a view of the whole.

I recently came across a German phrase "wie es eigenttich gewesen," meaning "to show how it really was." I believe the appropriate term is historical sensibility — "enabling one to understand — for those people at that time, what it was all about."

For Brian Crozier (1918-2012), former columnist for The Economist and National Review, the experience embodied in events is just as important as their causes.

Crozier sees history as an act (a story), and the challenge is how to tell that story. He isolates at least two approaches to history: 1) a way to define ourselves and our values as a society (cultural pursuit); 2) a creative dialogue between the past and the present — not only to see cause and effect in past events, but also meanings enacted in these events. An enhanced perspective of age combined with historic distance enable us to reconstruct the past.

For Crozier, the historian must both enact the past and interpret it.

To re-create a period in history so actors, for example, can perform truthfully in an accurate context is extremely challenging. The art and set director, the costumer, lighting and sound designers, and those responsible for hand and stage properties are all focused on this re-creation.

Finally, and this is where I feel strongly — "A good museum exhibition will communicate, not only an interpretation of past events, but also an enactment of past experience — thus stimulating the creative imagination." An old stove from the 1930s, according to Crozier, might reveal little about the Great Depression, but it could tell us a great deal about the person who owned it. The stove becomes a link between the now and then. It has cultural meaning.

This weekend, we celebrate the anniversary of the establishment of Henderson County. Back in 1838, we became a county — named for Leonard Henderson, a N.C. Supreme Court judge from the eastern part of the state. Dec. 15 was the date.

It was what we might say a trade-off. We wanted a county, and the state wanted an appropriate way to honor the popular judge. History reveals that Judge Henderson never set foot in this county.

The governmental structure was established on Dec. 28 — but it would be two years later (January 1841) before the county seat was firmly established by referendum. The river/road controversy (over where to place the county seat) ended, but not without hard feelings.

The director must approach the production of a play by embracing it on its terms — allowing the work to speak to him and to encourage him to meet the demands of time and place. This is the same for the historian.

As audience, we must learn to read the experience enacted in the event and respond with historical sensibility, our capacity to imagine in historical terms.

"White … a blank page or canvas … so many possibilities" — a convenient place to begin the history of Henderson County.

For one who has dabbled in theater over the years, I see this as metaphor for play and for life.

<p>Stephen Sondheim, the gifted Broadway musician/lyricist, created the musical "Sunday in the Park With George" based on the book by James Lapine. The musical was inspired by the painting "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" by George Seurat. </p><p>The musical play is developed around Seurat's efforts to create his masterwork and the people who are in that picture.</p><p>What I find so compelling is the concept for the play itself. One line, in particular, stands out: "White … a blank page or canvas … so many possibilities."</p><p>Seurat was born on Dec. 2, 1859, and died in March 1891. He is known for developing a technique in painting known as pointillism.</p><p>The pointillist (to the best of my understanding) uses small dots of pure color that are applied in "patterns to form an image." </p><p>History has been called an enormous jigsaw puzzle with a lot of missing parts. Historians are judged by their use of available evidence. In the re-creation of history, the small details of life, much the same as Seurat's dots, are revealed and, although mostly unrelated, are embraced in a view of the whole.</p><p>I recently came across a German phrase "wie es eigenttich gewesen," meaning "to show how it really was." I believe the appropriate term is historical sensibility — "enabling one to understand — for those people at that time, what it was all about." </p><p>For Brian Crozier (1918-2012), former columnist for The Economist and National Review, the experience embodied in events is just as important as their causes. </p><p>Crozier sees history as an act (a story), and the challenge is how to tell that story. He isolates at least two approaches to history: 1) a way to define ourselves and our values as a society (cultural pursuit); 2) a creative dialogue between the past and the present — not only to see cause and effect in past events, but also meanings enacted in these events. An enhanced perspective of age combined with historic distance enable us to reconstruct the past.</p><p>For Crozier, the historian must both enact the past and interpret it.</p><p>To re-create a period in history so actors, for example, can perform truthfully in an accurate context is extremely challenging. The art and set director, the costumer, lighting and sound designers, and those responsible for hand and stage properties are all focused on this re-creation. </p><p>Finally, and this is where I feel strongly — "A good museum exhibition will communicate, not only an interpretation of past events, but also an enactment of past experience — thus stimulating the creative imagination." An old stove from the 1930s, according to Crozier, might reveal little about the Great Depression, but it could tell us a great deal about the person who owned it. The stove becomes a link between the now and then. It has cultural meaning. </p><p>This weekend, we celebrate the anniversary of the establishment of Henderson County. Back in 1838, we became a county — named for Leonard Henderson, a N.C. Supreme Court judge from the eastern part of the state. Dec. 15 was the date. </p><p>It was what we might say a trade-off. We wanted a county, and the state wanted an appropriate way to honor the popular judge. History reveals that Judge Henderson never set foot in this county. </p><p>The governmental structure was established on Dec. 28 — but it would be two years later (January 1841) before the county seat was firmly established by referendum. The river/road controversy (over where to place the county seat) ended, but not without hard feelings. </p><p>The director must approach the production of a play by embracing it on its terms — allowing the work to speak to him and to encourage him to meet the demands of time and place. This is the same for the historian.</p><p>As audience, we must learn to read the experience enacted in the event and respond with historical sensibility, our capacity to imagine in historical terms. </p><p>"White … a blank page or canvas … so many possibilities" — a convenient place to begin the history of Henderson County.</p><p>For one who has dabbled in theater over the years, I see this as metaphor for play and for life.</p>